Caltra have Meehans to succeed

Connacht Club FC Final: Caltra 1-6 Curry 0-6 When these club teams of modest scale and grand ambition engaged in a challenge game last August, they probably could not have envisaged being the last two standing in Connacht on a bleak November Sunday.

Yesterday they met again in Salthill and the bare bones of the story is that Caltra, the Galway champions, won their first provincial title because of a blissful moment of unstoppable finishing from the prodigious Micheál Meehan. His goal just before half-time was the difference between the sides and Pearse Stadium echoed to the sound of the delirious local support.

Curry must have traipsed back up the N17 dreading the headlines based on culinary puns and knowing they could have penned a happier history. Twelve wides and a mere point from a second-half penalty are winter football sins for which there can be no atonement other than accepting loss.

Stronger and more forceful than the Galway champions, they closed off all avenues to the Meehan forwards throughout the second half and conceded just a single point in that half-hour. But they simply couldn't catch up.

Curry trailed 1-5 to 0-4 when Garry Maye - their best performer from play who had scored two long-range points minutes earlier - stepped up to take his penalty.

"It was probably the turning point," acknowledged Caltra's Oliver Hennelly afterwards. "The ball just grazed the top of the crossbar, which was a relief for us because Curry were in the ascendancy at that time."

In fact, Curry were causing havoc. Trailing 1-5 to 0-2 over the tea-break, they dispatched Paul Durcan, the solemn heavyweight of Sligo football for the last half-decade, in around Caltra's square and began to boss the game.

With Seán Davey, Maye and Kevin and Brian Giblin dominant in the middle sector, they ran at Caltra and thumped long ball into Durcan, who was a thorn for the defence. Two sweet points by Maye in the first 10 minutes gave them something to chase and a goal loomed after 41 minutes but for a brave block from Kevin Gavin on Brian McDonagh even as he pulled the trigger. The penalty four minutes later was no surprise.

Again, it involved Curry's central players, Maye hammering a direct ball for Durcan and a swift exchange between McDonagh and Giblin persuading a stricken Caltra defence to drag Giblin down.

Caltra were out of the game at this stage. Although they play slick football, they suffer for lack of size and struggled to move the ball through the middle third of the field. With the Meehans isolated up front, they simply could not get the ball out of their half for a long period. And when they did at last manage to break forward, the verve had deserted them and they whacked a series of wildly optimistic shots well wide.

Matthew Killilea's 53rd-minute point was perhaps the most important of their campaign to date as it left Curry chasing an unlikely goal over the last minutes.

His score was enough to supplement the first-half cushion. Caltra's movement during that first period was delightful at times. Micheál Meehan's legend continues to grow and he enjoys a telepathic playing relationship with his brother Noel, a forward of wonderful subtlety.

Caltra's 31st-minute goal was worked between their three central players here yesterday. It began when the excellent Gavin intercepted a ball and delivered a long, perfect pass to the full forward. Noel Meehan's weighted flick to his brother was delivered quickly and perfectly and bursting into a clearing, Micheál Meehan rapped a shot that Jeffrey Durcan had little chance of seeing, let alone saving.

It was as good a finish as Pearse Stadium will ever see. Coming just before the break, it was an awful punch for Curry to absorb. As it was, they had opportunities to eat up the lead in the second half but their finishing represented a desperately disappointing close to a handsome year for the club. They were fatally hesitant in front of the posts.

But for that, they might have been the first-time champions because Caltra went through a highly nervous 20 minutes, highlighted by the needless shoulder trainer Frank Doherty meted out to Curry's manager Denis Kearney.

But Caltra survived and a semi-final against The Loup of Derry awaits them. With the youngest Meehan shimmering with virtuosity, they are entitled to dream away the long December nights in the various townlands that make up the rural club. But if they make it to another final, they will have to perform for the full hour.

CALTRA: K Kilroy; O Kelly, E Meehan, B Kilroy; D Meehan, K Gavin, P Gately; O Hennelly, J Galvin (0-1); T Meehan, D Laffey, M Killilea; M Meehan (1-2, 1 free), N Meehan (0-1), A Keighrey. Subs: D Cunniffe for B Laffey (41 mins), K Killilea for A Keighrey (47 mins).

CURRY: J Durcan; B Collins, G Kennedy, S Marren; C Walsh, B McDonagh, NB Giblin; S Davey (0-1), D Colleary (0-1, free); G Maye (0-3, 1 pen), K Giblin, A Marren; A Loftus, P Durcan, B McDonagh. Subs: P Henry for A Loftus (25 mins), K Davey for D Colleary (33 mins), J Henry for B McDonagh (54 mins), D Colleary for P Henry (53 mins).

Referee: M Daly (Mayo).